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A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 



HON. SIMEON BALDWIN. 



AN 



ADDRESS 



AT THE FUNERAL OF 



HON. SIMEON BALDWIN 



MAY 28, 1851, 



V 

X 



SAMUEL wKs: BUTTON, 

Pastor of the North Church in New Haven. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



NEW HAVEN: 
A. H. MALTBY, No. 67 CHAPEL STREET 

1851. 



Esoz. 
Si ^11? 






Printed by 
STORER & MOREHOUSE, FRANKLIN OFFICE, 

New Haven, Conn. 



ADDRESS. 



It is but a little more than five weeks since we met in 
this Sanctuary, to pay our tribute of respect and affection 
to one of our eminent patriarchs, before we committed his 
body to the tomb. At that time, in answer to the inquiry, 
where are those, who, a few years since, were regarded as 
the fathers of the legal profession in this city, it was said, 
" But one remains. Would, for our sakes, though not for 
his, that he might remain here always. But it will not be. 
It can hardly be said that he is here : for he is daily wait- 
ing in the serenity of patience and hope, and in the confi- 
dence of faith, for his departure." He has departed! 
Judge Daggett and Judge Baldwin, intimate in their 
friendship through a long life, are scarcely divided in 
death. Judge Baldwin, universally respected and be- 
loved — we shall see him no more here below ! His life- 
less body is before us ; and we are here to pay to his 
memory, before we perform the rites of burial, the just 
tribute of a review of his life and his virtues. 

Simeon Baldwin was born December 14th, 1761, in 
the town of Norwich, in what is now the State, but was 
then the colony of Connecticut ; and of course on the 
day of his decease. May 26th, 1851, had passed through 
five months and twelve days of his ninetieth year ; thus 



extending his earthly pilgrimage through the average life- 
time of three generations. He was the youngest among 
seven children of Ebenezer Baldwin, the grandson of 
Thomas Baldwin, and great grandson of John Baldwin, 
the first ancestor of this branch of the Baldwin family in 
this country. John Baldwin came from England with the 
Puritan emigrants from the counties of Bucks, Surry and 
Kent, who accompanied their pastors. Rev. Messrs. Daven- 
port, Prudden and Whitfield, and began the settlement of 
New Haven, Milford and Guilford, Of these emigrants, 
six families bore the name of Baldwin. John Baldwin's 
name appears on the records of the town of Guilford, in 
the tax list of the planters and inhabitants of that town, 
in 1646. It appears, also, from these records, that he was 
married there in 1653, and had a son born there in 1654, 
and a daughter in 1656 ; and it appears, moreover, from the 
records of Norwich, that he was one of thirty-five propri- 
etors who purohased and settled that town in 1660. At 
that time he removed with his family to that place, and 
took up his residence on the town lot assigned to him. On 
this same spot, were born his son Thomas, his grandson 
Ebenezer, and his great grandson Simeon, our deceased 
friend. The parents of Simeon Baldwin were devout and 
godly persons, who by prayer, faith and Christian nurture 
devoted their children to Christ and his church. He had 
the misfortune to lose by death his own mother when he 
was a little more than a year old ; but her place was in 
due time supplied so well by a second wife of his father, 
that he never knew or could see any difference, as he has 
often said, between her and a real mother. His father 
combined, as is often the case in the early history of colo- 
nies, mechanical and agricultural pursuits. He was a man 
trusted, honored and useful in the civil and religious affairs 
of Norwich, an active member of the church, a magistrate 



of the town, and its representative in the General As- 
sembly. 

Mr Baldwin thus favored by early parental injfluence, 
was also eminently favored in the instruction which for a 
time he received in studies preparatory for admission to 
college. He went, at the age of thirteen, to reside in the 
family and under the tuition of his oldest brother, Rev. 
Ebenezer Baldwin, pastor of the Congregational church in 
Danbury, who was then, though in early life, one of the 
most eminent ministers, accomplished scholars and active 
philanthropists and patriots in the colony. Judge Trum- 
bull, in a memoir of his own life, and the various writers on 
the history of Yale College, make honorable mention of 
him as one of an able body of tutors, who, entering upon 
their office at a period when the college had fallen into 
disfavor among many of the civilians of the State, and was 
in a great measure forsaken by its students on account of 
general dissatisfaction with its administration, by their 
eminent scholarship, affable manners, efficient authority, 
and modes of instruction adapted to the progress of the 
times, contributed much to raise again its reputation, re- 
store it to confidence, and repair its prosperity. The late 
Chancellor Kent, who was under his tuition at Danbury, 
with Simeon Baldwin, whose classmate he was in college, 
and through life his admiring and familiar friend, in an ad- 
dress before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, in 1831, alludes 
to Rev. Ebenezer Baldwin, as his early preceptor, with an 
affectionate warmth which time had not chilled and death 
had hallowed, and gives a touching tribute to his worth 
and virtues. He calls him " a great and excellent man," 
and gives a glowing eulogy on his piety, his learning, his 
eloquence, judgment and patriotism. 

Our friend commenced his studies with his brother, in 
Danbury, at a most trying period of our American history, 



in 1774, when the colonies were burdened under the 
oppressive measures of the British Government ; and pa- 
triotic and courageous men were actively engaged in pre- 
paring for the daring, and to any but the righteous and the 
brave, desperate work of resistance and revolution. His 
recollections of that period were vivid and accurate ; and 
he has often spoken in late years of the active part which 
his brother took in that work preparatory to our struggle 
for civil liberty, thinking that struggle sacred, chiefly be- 
cause it involved religious liberty. Particularly has he 
spoken of an address, which his brother published in the 
year 1774, under his own signature, to the people of the 
western part of the colony, to rouse them to a sense of the 
danger in which their liberties were then involved, by 
measures of the British Government, which, as he clearly 
showed, violated alike their natural rights as men and their 
constitutional rights as Englishmen ; and also of a sermon 
which his brother preached, and afterwards published by 
request, on Thanksgiving Day, in November, 1775, that 
was designed to keep up the spirits of the people in the 
dangerous struggle in which they were then fully engaged, 
by the events that had occurred during the year then draw- 
ing to a close, especially the battles of Lexington and 
Bunker Hill. A vivid idea of the vast changes which have 
taken place during our friend's lifetime is conveyed by a 
fact that he has often narrated. A rumor reached Danbury 
that a battle had been fought on Bunker's Hill, but no 
definite intelligence had been received there of its charac- 
ter or issue. This was nearly three weeks after the battle. 
So, to procure satisfactory information, Simeon Baldwin, 
then fourteen years old, was sent on horseback fifteen 
miles to the house of the clergyman in New Milford, to 
borrow the Hartford paper, which contained an account, 
official probably, of that engagement. On his return the 



inhabitants of the town assembled in great numbers around 
the house of his brother to hear it read. How much is 
embraced in a life, one extreme of which is in such a peri- 
od, and the other in a period, when the nerves of intelli- 
gence, reaching to all points in a country extended tenfold, 
are literally operated by the power and with the speed of 
the lightning ! 

But the distinguished advantages of our friend under the 
tuition of his brother, after continuing about two years, 
were calamitously cut off In the impending and gloomy 
campaign of 1776, when the defence of New York, threat- 
ened by the British army of 30,000, well disciplined and 
well equipped, had become nearly desperate, Rev. Eben- 
ezer Baldwin, (we use here the language of Chancellor 
Kent) " was incessant in his efforts to cheer and animate 
his townsmen to join the militia, which were called out for 
the defence of New York. To give weight to his eloquent 
exhortations, he added that of his heroic example. He 
went voluntarily as a chaplain to one of the militia regi- 
ments. His office was pacific, but he nevertheless arrayed 
himself in military armor. I was present (adds Chancellor 
Kent,) when he firmly and cheerfully bade adieu to his 
devoted parishioners and affectionate pupils." This was 
about the first of August, 1776. Soon after his arrival at 
New York, Simeon, then fourteen years old, went at his 
summons on horseback to carry to him some clothing and 
provisions. He remained a short time in New York, and 
was sent back by his brother, who anticipated the next day 
an attack from the enemy's forces. When the anticipated 
attack took place, Mr. Baldwin's horse was taken with all 
his baggage. The loss of his clothing subjected him to 
severe exposure, especially in the chilly nights; which, 
with other hardships of his service in ministering to the 
sick and suffering soldiers, resulted in a fever that prevailed 



. 8 

in the camp. Intelligence of his sickness was immediately 
sent to Danbury, and Simeon was dispatched to New York 
to convey him to his home ; which he accomplished, though 
they were detained for a time at a town on the way by the 
severity of his brother's disease. He then went immedi- 
ately from Danbury to Norwich to summon the family 
friends. They arrived just in season to hear the last 
words, and witness the death, at the early age of thirty- 
one, of this, one of the most promising and heroic of the 
clerical martyrs to our national freedom. His eminent 
reputation and worth may be inferred from the fact, that, 
notwithstanding his youth, he was the favorite candidate 
for the Presidency of Yale College, then occupied pro 
tcm,po7'e by Professor Daggett, and would undoubtedly 
have been chosen to that office, had his life been continued. 
Being thus bereaved of the instruction of his brother, 
Mr. Baldwin pursued his preparatory studies partly at 
Coventry with Rev. Mr. Huntington, and partly at Leba- 
non at the school of Mr. Tisdale, then a teacher of high 
reputation in Connecticut. He entered Yale College in 
the year 1777, during the Presidency of Rev. Dr. Daggett, 
and graduated with honor in 1781. Of that class he was 
the last survivor. On the recent triennial catalogue every 
name except his is prefixed with the fatal star. The whole 
of his college life was in the stormy and exciting period 
of the revolutionary war, and at times the college was 
entirely forsaken, the students being distributed under the 
care of th'eir instructors, in different towns in the state. 
They were in New Haven, however, at the time of the 
attack on this place by detachments of British troops un- 
der Generals Try on and Garth; and Mr. Baldwin with a 
company of his fellow students, joined the forces which 
were hastily collected to resist them, at what was then and 
is now called " Neck Bridge," a bridge over the western 



9 

branch of the Qiiinnipiack river, near Cedar Hill. He par- 
ticipated at that point in a skirmish in which a man stand- 
ing near him was shot. 

During the year after his graduation he commenced the 
study of the law, in New Haven, with Judge Chauncey ; 
but in the next year, having been appointed, in connection 
with John Lovett of the next following class, to the charge 
of the Academy at Albany, he removed to that city ; where 
he resided in the family of Peter Yates, then an eminent 
lawyer in that place, of whose valuable law library he 
availed himself for the continuance of his professional 
studies so far as was compatible with his duties as teacher. 
He there formed a pleasant acquaintance with Edward and 
Brockholdst Livingston, who were both pursuing their legal 
studies at that time under the direction of Mr. Yates. 
Here again we get a striking view of the changes which 
his long life has witnessed in this fact, that at that time 
there were but sixteen counsellors at the bar in the whole 
State of New York, with all of whom Mr. Baldwin became 
acquainted. Among his pupils at the Academy in Albany 
were John V. Henry, who afterwards became an eminent 
lawyer, and Francis Bloodgood, who was for many years 
a judge of the Supreme Court of that State. In 1783, two 
years after his graduation, he entered on the office of tutor 
in Yale College ; which he filled with ability and fidelity 
for three years, pursuing at the same time the study of law 
with Judge Chauncey, till 1786, when, with his early and 
life-long friend, David Daggett, he was admitted to the bar 
of New Haven County, and entered on the practice of his 
profession in this town. Four years after, in 1790, he was 
appointed by Judge Law clerk of the district and circuit 
courts of the United States, and continued to perform the 
duties of that office, in connection with an extensive pro- 
fessional practice in the state courts, for thirteen years, till 

2 



10 

the autumn of 1803, when he was elected a representative 
from Connecticut of the eighth Congress of the United 
States, with Roger Griswold, Calvin Goddard, and S. W. 
Dana as his associates. He attended the two sessions of 
that Congress, which expired in 1805, when he declined a 
re-election, resumed his practice at the bar, and was re- 
appointed by Judge Law clerk of the district and circuit 
courts. In 1806, when he was forty-five years of age, he 
was appointed by the legislature of the state an associate 
judge of the Superior Court and of the Supreme Court of 
Errors. In that office he was continued for eleven years, 
by annual appointment, which was the custom under the 
old constitution, till 1817, when the federal party went out 
of power in the state. He then returned to his practice at 
the bar. In 1822 he was appointed by the General As- 
sembly one of the commissioners to locate the Farmington 
Canal, and was made President of that board. In 1826 
he was chosen Mayor of the city of New Haven. In 1830, 
in his 7'Oth year, after having seen the Canal located and 
completed to the Connecticut river at Northampton, he 
resigned his position as commissioner, and since that 
time has held no public office. The practice of his profes- 
sion, however, as counsellor and adviser, chiefly at his own 
office, he has pursued, notwithstanding his age, till within 
a few years. 

During his practice at the bar, before he was appointed 
judge, he occasionally taught in his office students at law, 
some of whom in after life became eminent. Among these 
may be mentioned the late Jeremiah Mason, who cherished 
for him through life a respectful and affectionate regard. 

At the age of twenty-six, about a year after he was ad- 
mitted to the bitr, Mr. Baldwin married Rebecca, daughter 
of the Hon. Roger Sherman, of New Haven, a man justly 



11 

renowned as one of the committee who reported the Dec- 
laration of Independence, and one of the signers of that in- 
strument, and as one of the ablest members of the conven- 
tion which formed the Constitution of the United States. 
She deceased in 1795, after a married life of eight years, 
having been the mother of four children. Of these, two 
survive him, one of whom has always dwelt under her 
father's roof in the constant and affectionate exercise of 
filial fidelity and devotion.* Five years after the death of 
his wife, on the 13th of April, 1800, Mr. Baldwin married 
Elizabeth, another daughter of Hon. Roger Sherman, and 
widow of Sturges Burr. With her he was permitted by a 
kind Providence to live in happy union for half a century, 
till July, 1850, when she deceased at the age of eighty-five. 
Five children were the offspring of this marriage, two of 
whom survive. 

The commencement of Judge Baldwin's religious life 
he was never able to date ; and it was partly for this rea- 
son, and partly from his very high idea of the spiritual 
characteristics which are necessary to evince piety, that he 
deferred to a late period his union with a Christian church. 
He made a profession of his faith in Christ, and of his de- 
votion to his service, by uniting with the North Church in 
New Haven, in August, 1831, during his seventieth year. 
But, for many years before that time, his pastor and his 
friends had regarded him as truly a religious man. In- 
deed, from his youth, he seemed to have practised many of 
the Christian virtues, and to have maintained a deportment 
in respect to moral and religious things, which cannot ea- 
sily be accounted for except on the supposition that he 
possessed real piety. From his early days, and especially 



* The other is Hon, Roger Sherman Baldwin, late Senator of the United States 
from Connecticut. 



12 

after he assumed the responsibilities of professional and 
married life, he was an earnest and liberal supporter of re- 
ligious institutions, a regular, reverent, and devout attend- 
ant on divine worship and the preaching of divine truth, a 
lover of Christian people, and remarkable for his kind, con- 
siderate, delicate, decided and persevering friendship to 
Christian ministers, especially his own pastors. In the 
great religious awakening which prevailed in New Haven, 
in 1831, he was quickened, and caused to feel that he 
ought not longer to defer his union with Christ's professed 
people. And from that time, though he has never indulged 
in strong declarations of his religious feelings, and has 
never felt that he could profitably take the attitude of pub- 
lic religious teaching or exhortation, he has scrupulously 
attended to religious duties, and has manifestly been grow- 
ing in godliness, in spiritual peace, comfort, hope and joy, 
and in meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light. 

The intellectual and moral qualities of Judge Baldwin 
were such as eminently fitted him for the duties of the 
high judicial office, which he held for eleven years in 
the maturity of his life ; and also to attract, as he did, the 
universal respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens, and 
the admiration and love of all his familiar friends. Never 
was it more true of any one than of him, that none 
knew him but to love him, nor named him but to praise. 
His intellectual qualities, as they were developed in his 
life, were so blended with, and affected by his moral quali- 
ties, that it is difficult in any analysis of his character to 
distinguish them, and set them forth separately. His judg- 
ment was uncommonly sound, thorough and well-balanced. 
He had the power of perceiving truth and evidence clear- 
ly and accurately. His own ideas were conceived defi- 
nitely and fully. He understood perfectly the limits of 



13 

his knowlege. He always knew what he did know, and 
what he did not know ; and what he did know he knew 
well, and what he did not know he either learned thorough- 
ly, or let alone. He had a power of perspicuous and ex- 
act statement, which enabled him always to communicate 
to others his knowledge or opinions clearly and accurately. 
His memory was remarkably ready, capacious, methodical 
and retentive ; and was able to unfold, even to his last 
months, the large and rich treasures gathered during nearly a 
whole century. His love of truth and of equity was 
strong and warm, though never violent ; and it always 
guided and controlled his feelings and conduct. He was 
candid, impartial and uninfluenced by prejudice, to a de- 
gree rarely witnessed and never surpassed. All his ac- 
quaintances will agree that a more fair-minded man they 
never knew^ His integrity was disinterested, upright and 
inflexible ; and his fidelity was scrupulous, industrious and 
thorough. His qualities were not those which dazzled by 
their brilliancy, or overwhelmed by their rapidity and en- 
ergy ; but they were those which inspired entire and uni- 
versal confidence. They qualified him peculiarly for the 
office of Judge of the Superior Court, which he held for 
eleven years, and should have held for fourteen years more 
till he reached the age of seventy. It is one of the evils 
incident, among far superior benefits, to popular gov- 
ernments, an evil which should be carefully guarded against, 
that political conflicts and changes sometimes result in the 
discontinuance of such men in such offices as that of Judge 
of our higher Courts. Such men in such offices should be 
retained, to whatever party they belong. 

Judge Baldwin has so far outlived his generation, that 
very few in the State have any adequate recollection of his 
administration of the judicial office. But one of the few, 
Hon. Thomas Day, who was then and is now Reporter for 



14 

the Superior Court of Connecticut, has been so kind as to 
give me a brief statement of his opinion of the judi- 
cial character of Judge Baldwin — an opinion with which 
Chief Justice Williams has expressed entire coinci- 
dence. I take the liberty to quote it : " Everybody, 
[says he,] in New Haven, knew Mr. Baldwin as a man ; 
a few may recollect him as a lawyer. I had good op- 
portunities of knowing him as a Judge ; but all that was 
distinctive of him in that capacity may be said in a few 
words. His judgment was sound, the result of thorough 
investigation and reflection. He was as free from bias as 
any man that ever gave an opinion. He was not deficient 
in the learning obtained from books ; but he relied more 
on his own good sense than on the subtleties or refinements 
of the law. He had less versatility than some other men. 
Indeed, the excellence of Judge Baldwin consisted in his 
being always the same — the same upright, deliberate, in- 
telligent man. His leading qualities as a Judge were those 
which were conspicuous in him everywhere. Everybody 
had confidence in him whether on or off the bench." 

Judge Baldwin was a man of great amiableness and kind- 
ness, — the result of a fine native disposition, cultured by 
principle, and purified by grace. He was always careful 
never to harm the interest or wound the feelings of any one, 
and was disposed to accommodate everybody. 

This kindness of heart, united with his love of equity, 
and his sound judgment, made him a true, decided, and wise 
philanthropist. The poor, the depressed, and especially 
the oppressed, always found in him a considerate, tender, 
and prudent friend. He imitated, in this respect, our di- 
vine Lord, as he is described in the language of poetic 
prophecy, " He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the 
poor also, and him that hath no helper." In sympathy 



15 

with the Latin poet, he counted himself a man, and deem- 
ed nothing human alien from himself He was always the 
friend of that race who have encountered an extraordina- 
ry share of earth's wrongs and miseries ; and, in the ear- 
lier part of his professional life, was especially active in their 
behalf He received a strong tendency in this direction, 
not only from his own feelings and principles, but also 
from the example of his brother, Rev. Ebenezer Baldwin. 
In an unpublished memoir of his brother, which Judge 
Baldwin prepared only two years since, speaking of his 
brother, and others who sympathized with him, he uses 
the following language: " While contemplating and endeav- 
oring to enforce the sublime idea that all men are endow- 
ed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, and 
that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness, they found that among ourselves these self-evi- 
dent truths were disregarded in a long-established system 
of negro slavery. To remove this beam from our own 
eyes, that we might see clearly to remove the mote from 
our brother's eyes, Rev. Mr. Edwards, of New Haven, (af- 
terwards Dr. Edwards, President of Union College,) and 
Mr. Baldwin, by agreement, addressed the public in a se- 
ries of essays. While yet a tutor in College, Mr. Baldwin 
had attended as a delegate, and officiated as a scribe of the 
council which ordained Mr. Edwards in the ministry at 
New Haven. They became intimate friends, and as they 
harmonized in sentiment on the great questions of public 
liberty which then agitated the country, so also were their 
opinions in unison in regard to the unlawfulness of slavery. 
Their essays on that subject, which were published alter- 
nately in Green's paper in New Haven, in the years 1773 
and 1774, excited much attention, caused many emancipa- 
tions, and contributed to produce a course of measures 
which eventually abolished slavery, not only in Connecti- 



16 

cut, but in all the Northern States." One of these meas- 
ur^g^dopted after Mr. Baldwin's death, waR the formation 
of " The Connecticut Society for the j^romotion of free- 
dom, and for the relief of persons unlawfully held in bond- 
je.'X^ In the origin and operations of this Anti-Slavery 
Soci^y, which was formed in 1790, the year after the 
adoption of the Constitution of the United States, Simeon 
Baldwin, sharing the spirit and principles of his brother, and 
taking up his mantle, bore an active part. The chief arti- 
cle of the constitution of this society was in these words : 
" The members of this society shall, individually and col- 
lectively, co-operate with such societies as have been, or 
hereafter may be, formed in the United States of America, 
or other parts of the world, for the extension of freedom, 
or the abolition of slavery; they shall endeavor to enforce 
an obedience to the laws which are or shall be enacted in 
this State for the progressive extension of freedom, and 
shall, to the utmost of their power, afford relief to persons 
unlawfully holden in bondage ; they shall also endeavor to 
promote the education, enlighten the minds, and correct 
the morals of the negroes, to render them industrious, and 
to furnish them with the means of honest employment." 
Of this society, Mr. Baldwin was the most active member, 
being its secretary, conducting all its correspondence, and 
directing in its arrangements. A short time since, he 
placed in the hands of the writer many documents, pub- 
lished by that society, most of them sermons against slave- 
ry by eminent clergymen, or petitions to Congress to act, 
so far as it constitutionally could, for the removal of sla- 
very. They all bear his name as secretary. 

Judge Baldwin was uncommonly charitable in his judg- 
ment of others. Though he had decided opinions, and was 
strict in his views of right and wrong, he yet always 
thought and spoke kindly of those who differed from him. 



17 

He had also singular simplicity and transparency of char- 
acter. He was ever open and frank in his feelings, his 
words and his conduct. He was wise, but never crafty; 
prudent, but never cunning, — " an Israelite, indeed, in whom 
there was no guile." 

Judge Baldwin was a man of public spirit. The in- 
terests of churches and ecclesiastical societies, of the 
town, the city, the college, the country, the world, were 
near his heart ; and, though cautious and discreet, he was 
always ready, whether in youth, maturity, or old age, to 
partake in any reasonable measure for their advancement. 
His private interests he never allowed to stand in the way 
of public advantage. 

Judge Baldwin's kindness of heart, his considerate and 
delicate regard for the feelings of others, his frankness and 
openness of character, his large acquaintance with distin- 
guished men and cultivated society, and his easy manners 
and affable conversation, made him remarkable for his cour- 
tesy. He was a true Christian gentleman. 

The equanimity of Judge Baldwin was rarely equalled. 
Though he had strong and delicate sensibilities, and though 
he passed through many severe domestic bereavements 
and afflictions, and has had a share of trouble from the un- 
just and hard dealings of the world, and the variations 
of fortune, yet, such were his self-control and balance of 
mind, and so cheerful and grateful were his views of divine 
Providence, that his soul was always calm and even 
serene. 

In speaking of the moral qualities of our deceased friend, 
I have used strong and earnest language ; for this alone 
would justly describe them. And sure I am that those 
who have known him well will not accuse me of going be- 
yond the bounds of due commendation. Indeed in describ- 
ing Judge Baldwin as a sound-minded, fair-minded, pure- 

3 



18 

minded, and true-hearted man, it is difficult to say anything 
which is extravagant. 

The degree in which Judge Baldwin retained his intel- 
lectual and most of his bodily powers was very extraordi- 
nary ; owing, doubtless, partly to a good native constitution, 
but more to a wise temperance, and his entire equanimity. 
His hearing was indeed seriously impaired ; but his form was, 
to the last, as erect, and his step almost as firm as in youth. 
And in his mind there was no perceptible failure, even in 
his four-score and tenth year ! Three years since, he ap- 
peared before a committee of the Legislature, and plead a 
cause in which he was interested, as ably as if he had 
been in his meridian. And lately, at a meeting of the bar 
of New Haven county, occasioned by the death of Judge 
Daggett, he made a brief address, without opportunity of 
preparation, with all the clearness, method and justness of 
thought and expression, for which he has ever been distin- 
guished. 

Nevertheless, the time of his death was ordered in great 
kindness. For a disease, well known to all who looked 
upon his face,* which, though it has been spreading for a 
few years past, had hitherto given him pain, only or chiefly, 
in anticipation, had arrived at a stage, that would have 
rendered a prolonged life a grievous burden. He was 
submissively willing to wait all his appointed time till his 
change should come ; yet he desired to depart, not only 
that he might enter upon his heavenly rest, but that he 
might be saved from the evils of his threatening disease. 
In view of the time of his departure, as well as of the 
whole course of his life, we may well use, with slight varia- 
tions, the language of one of our poets : 

* A Cancer. 



19 

" Why weep ye then for hhri, who having run 
The bound of man's appointed years, at last, 
Life's blessings all enjoyed, life's labors done, 
Serenely to his final rest has past ; 
While the soft memory of his virtues, yet. 
Lingers like twilight hues, when the bright sun is set. 

" His youth was innocent ; his riper age, 

Marked with some act of goodness, every day ; 

And watched by eyes that loved him, calm, and sage, 

Faded his last declining years away. 

Cheerful he gave his being up, and went 

To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent. 

" That life was happy ; every day he gave 
Thanks for the fair existence that was his ; 
For a sick fancy made him not her slave, 
To mock him with her phantom miseries. 
No chronic tortures racked his aged limb, 
For luxury and sloth had nourished none for him. 

" We may be glad that he has lived thus long. 
And glad that he has gone to his reward ; 
Nor deem that kindly nature did him wrong, 
Softly to disengage the vital cord. 
When his weak hand grew palsied, and his eye 
Dark with the mists of age, it was his time to die." 

The exercises of Judge Baldwin's mind, during his last 
weeks and days, were as pleasant to reflect upon as his 
whole life is in the review. The substantial hope of eter- 
nal life which for years he had indulged, on the ground of 
his faith in the Savior of sinners, had gradually increased 
to a confident assurance, which he frequently, though 
modestly, expressed. He knew that he trusted the Sa- 
vior ; and he knew that the Savior's promises were sure. 
He knew in whom he believed, and was persuaded that 
his soul, thus intrusted to that Savior's hands, would be 
saved and blest. He delighted in prayer. And when, 



20 

through weakness, it was difficult for him to direct his own 
thoughts, — to have another come daily and offer prayer 
for him and with him, at his bedside, was a pleasure, for 
which he exhausted the expressions of gratitude. 

He had frequently prayed that he might have an easy 
issue from the body into the joy of his Lord ; and it was 
granted. He passed gradually and quietly away, without 
apparent suffering. 

" How blest the righteous when he dies ! 
When sinks his weary soul to rest, 
How mildly beam the closing eyes, 

How gently heaves the expiring breast ! 

" So fades a summer cloud away ; 

So sinks the gale when storms are o'er ; 
So gently shuts the eye of day ; 
So dies a wave along the shore." 



21 



RESOLUTIONS OF THE COMMON COUNCIL. 

_ At a meeting of the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council of the 
city of New Haven, Jield on the 26th day of May, A. D. 1851, the 
following preamble and resolutions were unanimously passed. 

Whereas, it has pleased Divine Providence to remove by death, 
Hon. Simeon Baldwin, venerable for his great age, for the singular 
worth of his public and private character, and for his eminent services 
to this city, and this State, in many stations of honor and usefulness : 

Resolved, That in all the distinguished stations which he has filled, 
whether as Judge of the Supreme Court of the State, as a lawyer, as 
a member of the National Congress, as President of the Board of 
Canal Commissioners, as Mayor of this city, as a public man and as a 
private citizen, the clearness and soundness of his understanding, the 
integrity and uprightness of his conduct and his principles, and the 
spotless purity of his whole long life, eminently entitle him to the uni- 
versal respect and veneration which he received in life, and which 
follow him in death : and that we honor his memory as a pattern of a 
truly wise and just man. 

Resolved, That we deeply sympathise with the bereaved family, and 
as a mark of our respect will attend the funeral in a body : that these 
resolutions be signed by the Mayor and Clerk, be put upon record, 
and be published in the newspapers of the city, and a copy be sent to 
the family of the deceased. 

A. N. Skinner, Mayor. 
Alfred Terry, City Clerk. 



RESOLUTIONS OF THE NEW HAVEN BAR. 

At a meeting of the members of the Bar of New Haven county, 
held May 27th, 1851, on the occasion of the death of Hon. Simeon 
Baldwin. Hon. Ralph I. Ingersoll was called to the Chair, and Rob- 
ert H. Osborn, Esq., appointed Secretary. The following resolutions 



22 

were presented by Hon. Henry Button, and after appropriate remarks 
by him and Jonathan Stoddard, Esq., were unanimously adopted :— 

Resolved, That the recent decease of Hon. Simeon Baldwin, the old- 
est living member of the profession in this State, and whom we may 
appropriately call the father of the Bar, justly regarded as he has been 
among the most honorable of practitioners and upright of men, calls 
for arTexpression of unfeigned sorrow at his death. 

Resolved, That while we review his long course of usefulness and 
honor, whether we regard him as the learned and able advocate, the 
discreet and judicious counsellor, the wise, impartial, and inflexible 
judo-e criving form and consistency to the jurisprudence of the State ; 
or as the venerable sage, promoting in his retirement by prudent coun- 
sel, and active benevolence, the best interests of his fellow-men, we find 
in him an example worthy of all imitation. 

Resolved, That in token of our high regard for the public and pri- 
vate worth of the deceased, and of our sympathy with his afflicted 
family, we will attend his funeral in a body. 

Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting, signed by its officers, 
be presented to the Superior Couit at its next session in thir county, 
with a request that they be entered on record, and that a copy be fur- 
nished to the family of the deceased, and a like copy be published in 

the newspapers of this city. . 

R. I. Ingersoll, Chairman, 

Robert H. Osborn, Secretary. 



28 f 








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